


Can you stay?

by YouDontRememberTheSomme



Series: Fictober 2019 [8]
Category: The Pacific - Fandom
Genre: M/M, PTSD, Pining, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-12-07 14:48:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20977670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YouDontRememberTheSomme/pseuds/YouDontRememberTheSomme
Summary: “C’mon, baby, you’ve gotta rest,” Shelton softly insisted. “You’re gonna be busy tomorrow.”“Can you stay?” Sledge whispered. “Just for tonight, Snafu, I need somebody. I...”What Sledge didn’t say hung in the air between them.“I need you.”





	Can you stay?

Snafu wasn’t always sure why he accepted Eugene’s offer to stay with him in Alabama, but then he looked at the redhead’s soft hazel eyes and immediately understood.

In the days immediately after arriving at Sledge’s family home, things were alright. Hell, great, even. Gene’s parents had been a bit startled upon Sledge introducing Snafu but Snafu caught the look of understanding they gave each other, and he thought oh. 

Maybe he’d been wrong about Sledge just wanting someone who understood what he’d been through during that transition back to civilian life, and maybe he’d never know. Snafu was too worried about saying something wrong and Sledge figuring out that Snafu wanted more than he could bring himself to ask for.

The nightmares started a few days after they got back home. Snafu was jolted out of his slumber by the sounds of crying from the room across the hall from his and was on his feet before he’d fully woken up. When he opened the door to investigate, he’d noticed Eugene’s father down the hall, just waiting and listening. Snafu had furrowed his eyebrows, his gaze going to Sledge’s door. He had just started to reach for the handle when he noticed the older man shaking his head. 

“Don’t scare him,” Doctor Sledge had said quietly. 

And, against Snafu’s better judgement, he’d gone back to his room. It had taken a while to fall asleep, but he supposed he did. He had to, considering he was woken at some point when Gene walked into his room and told him breakfast was ready.

Snafu’s heart ached at the sight of Gene’s nervous eyes.

That was how Snafu spent his late nights, being woken by Gene’s call for a corpsman and feeling helpless when he wasn’t sure what to do. Well, that wasn’t the full case - he knew what he wanted to do, wanted to go to Sledge and wrap the sweet boy up and promise he’d take care of him. But that meant Sledge would know how deep the Cajun’s feelings ran.

A few weeks after the night began, Snafu was woken by one particularly loud scream and was on his feet and going to his redhead before he could convince his body that Gene was safe at home.

He opened the door, lingering in the doorway for a split second before going to him. “Hey Sledgehammer,” Snafu softly murmured. “I’ve got ya, okay? I’m gonna keep you safe, don’t worry, cher.”

Sledge looked up at Snafu with such heartbroken eyes that Snafu felt his insides ache.

“They got Hamm,” Sledge tearily warbled out. “We weren’t fast enough to stop Peck, we didn’t-”

Snafu hushed him, wrapping Eugene into a hug. “I’ve got you,” he murmured. “Hamm wouldn’t be mad at us, Gene.”

Sledge went still in Snafu’s arms and let out a shaky breath.

Snafu shut his mouth, staying quiet for a long moment before letting go. “Go back to sleep, cher,” he finally murmured. 

Eugene immediately reached for him, not wanting him to leave.

“C’mon, baby, you’ve gotta rest,” Shelton softly insisted. “You’re gonna be busy tomorrow.”

“Can you stay?” Sledge whispered. “Just for tonight, Snafu, I need somebody. I...”

What Sledge didn’t say hung in the air between them. 

“I need you.”

Snafu, for all his toughness and sins and loud mouth, couldn’t refuse. He’d never refuse.


End file.
